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Residues of heat-labile enterotoxin involved in bacterial cell surface binding.

ABSTRACT: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a leading cause of traveler's diarrhea worldwide. One major virulence factor released by this pathogen is the heat-labile enterotoxin LT, which upsets the balance of electrolytes in the intestine. After export, LT binds to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the bacterial surface. Although the residues responsible for LT's binding to its host receptor are known, the portion of the toxin which mediates LPS binding has not been defined previously. Here, we describe mutations in LT that impair the binding of the toxin to the external surface of E. coli without altering holotoxin assembly. One mutation in particular, T47A, nearly abrogates surface binding without adversely affecting expression or secretion in ETEC. Interestingly, T47A is able to bind mutant E. coli expressing highly truncated forms of LPS, indicating that LT binding to wild-type LPS may be due primarily to association with an outer core sugar. Consequently, we have identified a region of LT distinct from the pocket involved in eukaryotic receptor binding that is responsible for binding to the surface of E. coli.

SUBMITTER: Mudrak B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2681808 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Residues of heat-labile enterotoxin involved in bacterial cell surface binding.

Mudrak Benjamin B Rodriguez Daniel L DL Kuehn Meta J MJ

Journal of bacteriology 20090306 9

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a leading cause of traveler's diarrhea worldwide. One major virulence factor released by this pathogen is the heat-labile enterotoxin LT, which upsets the balance of electrolytes in the intestine. After export, LT binds to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the bacterial surface. Although the residues responsible for LT's binding to its host receptor are known, the portion of the toxin which mediates LPS binding has not been defined previously. Here, we descri ...[more]

PMID: 19270095

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Project description:Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) are endemic in low-resource settings and cause robust secretory diarrheal disease in children less than five years of age. ETEC cause secretory diarrhea by producing the heat-stable (ST) and/or heat-labile (LT) enterotoxins. Recent studies have shown that ETEC can be carried asymptomatically in children and adults, but how ETEC subvert mucosal immunity to establish intestinal residency remains unclear. Macrophages are innate immune cells that can be exploited by enteric pathogens to evade mucosal immunity, so we interrogated the ability of ETEC and other E. coli pathovars to survive within macrophages. Using gentamicin protection assays, we show that ETEC H10407 is phagocytosed more readily than other ETEC and non-ETEC isolates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ETEC H10407, at high bacterial burdens, causes nitrite accumulation in macrophages, which is indicative of a proinflammatory macrophage nitric oxide killing response. However, at low bacterial burdens, ETEC H10407 remains viable within macrophages for an extended period without nitrite accumulation. We demonstrate that LT, but not ST, intoxication decreases the number of ETEC phagocytosed by macrophages. Furthermore, we now show that macrophages exposed simultaneously to LPS and LT produce IL-33, which is a cytokine implicated in promoting macrophage alternative activation, iron recycling, and intestinal repair. Lastly, iron restriction using deferoxamine induces IL-33 receptor (IL-33R) expression and allows ETEC to escape macrophages. Altogether, these data demonstrate that LT provides ETEC with the ability to decrease the perceived ETEC burden and suppresses the initiation of inflammation. Furthermore, these data suggest that host IL-33/IL-33R signaling may augment pathways that promote iron restriction to facilitate ETEC escape from macrophages. These data could help explain novel mechanisms of immune subversion that may contribute to asymptomatic ETEC carriage.

Project description:UnlabelledCholera toxin (CT) and the related heat-labile enterotoxins (LT) of Escherichia coli have been implicated as adjuvants in human therapies, but reactivity upon intranasal delivery dampened efforts to develop other clinical applications. However, each CT family member variant has unique biological properties that may warrant development as therapeutic platforms. In the current study, a nontoxic variant of the heat-labile enterotoxin IIa (LTIIa) was engineered to deliver heterologous, functional proteins into the cytosol of neurons. As proof of principle, the LTIIa variant delivered two cargos into neurons. LTIIa delivered β-lactamase efficiently into cells containing complex gangliosides, such as GD1b, as host receptors. LTIIa delivery of β-lactamase was sensitive to brefeldin A, an inhibitor that collapses the Golgi compartment into the endoplasmic reticulum, but not sensitive to treatment with botulinum neurotoxin D (BoNT/D), an inhibitor of synaptic vesicle cycling. LTIIa delivered a single-chain, anti-BoNT/A camelid antibody that inhibited SNAP25 cleavage during post-BoNT/A exposure of neurons. Delivery of functional, heterologous protein cargos into neurons demonstrates the potential of LTII variants as platforms to deliver therapies to inactivate toxins and microbial infections and to reverse the pathology of human neurodegenerative diseases.ImportanceThis study engineered a protein platform to deliver functional, heterologous proteins into neurons. The protein platform developed was a variant of the heat-labile enterotoxin IIa (LTIIa) which lacked the catalytic domain, yielding a nontoxic protein. As proof of principle, LTIIa variants delivered two functional proteins into neurons, β-lactamase and a camelid antibody. These studies show the utility of LTIIa variants to deliver therapies into neurons, which could be extended to inactivate toxins and microbial infections and potentially to reverse the progression of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Dataset Information

Residues of heat-labile enterotoxin involved in bacterial cell surface binding.

Publications

Residues of heat-labile enterotoxin involved in bacterial cell surface binding.

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